Four Macomb County towns mull merging fire services

Harrison Township Fire Department Sgt. Mike Barnhard, Firefighter Ryan Sowter and Firefighter Matt Sahr relax during a lull in the department’s runs on Thursday. Their union, along with union officials from Mount Clemens, Clinton Township and Sterling Heights, are urging elected officials to consider merging the four departments. The Macomb Daily/DAVID DALTON

Four central Macomb County communities are considering joining forces to create a consolidated fire department in a move that would reduce costs and enhance services through sharing manpower and equipment.

The district boundaries would run from 14 Mile Road to Hall Road, Dequindre to Lake St. Clair, and include Clinton Township, Harrison Township, Mount Clemens and Sterling Heights.

Harrison Township’s Board of Trustees on Monday approved contributing funding to a $200,000 study that would evaluate the idea and the impact on the participating communities.

“This is the first time in 25 to 30 years that this idea has moved forward,” said Jack Swiatkowski, a Harrison Township trustee and retired Sterling Heights fire marshal. “There has been political opposition in the past but things have to change because the money has gotten too tight.”

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A group of union leaders from the communities approached Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel over the summer to run the idea by him as it’s possible more communities may want to join in the future, which could lead to a county-wide fire department.

They secured a $50,000 Competitive Grant Assistance Program grant from the Michigan Department of Treasury, which will be used to help fund the study for a Mid Macomb Fire Services merger. The study would focus on issues ranging from legacy costs to operations and dedicated fire millages.

The state grant will pay for 25 percent of the study. For the remaining $150,000 cost, Macomb County agreed to contribute 10 percent, or $15,000, while the firefighters’ unions would contribute 10 percent and the four municipalities would kick in the remaining 80 percent based on population and state equalized property values.

All four of the municipalities have to vote on the financial contributions by Feb. 24, when the grant expires. For Harrison Township, the only one of the four communities to vote on the fee so far, the cost was $13,000.

Unions in Harrison Township and Mount Clemens have already voted in favor of paying their share, according to Matt Sahr, vice president of the Harrison Township union. Union members in Clinton Township and Sterling Heights are expected to vote next week.

Lt. Paul Brouwer, president of Clinton Township’s union, said it would be “irresponsible for us to not at least look at it.”

“The governor wants to see consolidation of services and this study would determine the feasibility of providing a better level of service and increased safety for the firefighters and citizens while also possibly lowering costs due to economies of scale,” he said.

For example, if fire crews in a combined system needed an aerial ladder to respond to a blaze at a high-rise apartment, they could call on one of the participating communities that has the apparatus that otherwise would cost upwards of $700,000 to purchase.

Hackel, a former county sheriff before becoming the county executive, said the idea is long overdue.

“This is something we should have been looking at years ago,” Hackel said. “If we were truly good stewards of tax dollars, instead of keeping to our own little islands of the past, we might already have accomplished this.”

Several attempts have been made in the past to study merging some of the communities. The most recent started in 2011 when Harrison Township and Mount Clemens looked at forming a fire authority to combine the two departments.

The committee enlisted Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) to analyze the proposal, which found a combination would save the two communities $500,000 in the first year and $1 million in the five years after the merger.

However, top administrators in the city and township at that time decided a merger did not present enough cost savings.